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Season 18&nbspEpisode 12 Season Finale: The Finals pt. 2

The 2-Hour Finale was loaded with incredible performances! Following an opening number featuring all 12 couples from this season as well as the judges, James and Peta performed an encore of their Freestyle routine as decided by fans via Twitter. The finale was also our first chance to see Team Loca perform LIVE to "Livin' La Vida Loca"--the performance from Latin Night that had to be cancelled due to Amy Purdy's injury that night. The finale also featured the first ever dance between Olympic partners Meryl Davis and Charlie White as well as the three remaining couples performing new routines as part of the "24 Hour Fusion Challenge." Finally, the winner of Dancing with the Starsseason 18 was revealed!

FINAL SCORES:

Carrie Ann

Len

Bruno

Total

Amy & Derek (A. Tango & Cha Cha)

10

10

10

30

Candace & Mark (Quickstep & Samba)

9

9

9

27

Meryl & Maksim (Foxtrot & Cha Cha)

10

10

10

30

• The night kicked off with a rousing number featuring all 12 couples and the judges, letting everyone know that this second night of the Dancing with the Stars Finals was going to be a night to remember!

• After weeks of waiting since Amy’s injury on Latin Night, we all finally got a chance to see Team Loca perform their Team Dance to Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca.” Let’s just say it was worth the wait.

• For the first musical act of the evening, Iggy Azalea and Charlie XCX performed their hit “Fancy,” getting the crowd pumped up!

• We were welcomed back from a break with the lovely sounds of last season’s champion, Amber Riley, and her new single, “Colorblind.”

• The dance floor didn’t have much time to cool down, though, because Drew Carey and Cheryl Burke turned the heat right back up with a Jive that had the house rockin’.

• Charlie and Meryl welcomed us back from a break with a dance together! As Len would say, they’re nice on ice, but they are good on wood!

• The ladies took over the ballroom next, led by NeNe Leakes, showing she is a grown woman who knows how to DANCE.

• In a callback to one of the most entertaining nights of the season, Disney Night, Danica McKellar and Valentin Chmerkovskiy once again performed to “Be Our Guest” from the Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast. Like the film, the performance only got more enchanting.

• We welcomed back this season’s youngest competitor, Cody Simpson, who performed his hit single “Surfboard.” But singing wasn’t enough for this performer, who took a time out from providing killer vocals to bust some moves with his partner Witney Carson!

• We went back to Disney Night with the help of Charlie White and Sharna Burgess who reprised their performance to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and it was just as fun the second time around.

• James and Peta took to the ballroom once again with a reprise of their performance from American Icons Night and it was as iconic as ever with an assist from the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson.

• Singing her new hit single, “Problem,” Ariana Grande took the energy in the ballroom to another level that had just about everyone dancing.

• The reigning champion, Amber Riley, returned to the dance floor to belt out “Do Your Thing” surrounded by some of the best dancers in the business as the culmination of the season-long “Dance Happy, Be Healthy” series presented by Walgreens.

• It was bittersweet as Amy Purdy and Derek Hough took to the dance floor for their final dance, a fusion of Argentine Tango and Cha Cha. It was a fitting final performance that made the crowd cheer and brought more praise from the judges.

• Next up, Candace Cameron Bure and Mark Ballas performed their fusion of the Quickstep and the Samba. While Candace may have gone into The Finals as a bit of an underdog, she showed she has the chops to dance with the best of them.

• Finally, Meryl Davis and Maksim Chmerkovskiy took to the dance floor one last time for a performance that fused the Foxtrot and the Cha Cha. It was another spectacular dance for one of the best partnerships in Dancing with the Stars history, and they truly left it all on the dance floor.

• Performing her hit single “Human,” Christina Perri took us back through the season in an emotional musical tribute to the three women who had made it to The Finals.

• The time had come to reveal the couple that had fallen short of the title and finished in third place and it was Candace and Mark. They had made a valiant effort, and Candace felt great about making it so far and took a well-deserved bow at center stage.

• Finally it had all come down to this: Meryl & Maks and Amy & Derek. One couple would leave the ballroom holding the coveted Mirrorball Trophy. And this time…

• It was Meryl & Maks! Meryl Davis can now add a championship on Dancing with the Stars to her Olympic accomplishments. And, after several previous trips to The Finals, Maksim Chmerkovskiy finally reached the top! Congratulations to them and to all of the couples of Dancing with the Stars season 18!